After dropping five of its last six games the Shippensburg University lacrosse team was hungry for a motivational win.
Luckily for the Raiders, the team coming into David See Field on Saturday afternoon was also having a mediocre season.
Courtney Kennedy paced the team with a career-high, five-goal performance as the Raiders overtook Slippery Rock University 16–10, notching their first PSAC victory since a 7–6 victory over Kutztown University last week.
“I just kept looking in and kept shooting,” Kennedy said after her career performance.
Kennedy was on fire from the beginning of the game, scoring her first of five goals five minutes into the first half. She added three consecutive goals after that, all within a four-minute span to give the Raiders a 5–2 lead.
SU added another goal to its lead when Roxanne Brown took a solid feed from Sheila Johnson and deposited it into the back of the net, giving SU a 6–2 lead.
SRU added two goals of its own before the Raiders could answer. SU’s Bennet Widlake scored her second goal of the game with 8:27 left in the first half. SU’s Garrie Grenfell added three straight goals, the last coming 54 seconds before the end of the half — giving the Raiders a comfortable 10–4 lead entering the break.
SU kept the scoring going in the second half, scoring two goals in under four minutes, raising its lead to 12–4.
The Rock added two goals of its own, but the Raiders quickly answered when Brown and Kennedy added their final goals of the game, sending SU’s lead to 14-6. Brown finished the day with two goals.
“We have to think about how we feel today after the game and how good it feels to win,” Kennedy said. “We will just keep working off of that.”
Hopefully for the Raiders, those feelings will translate into another win as No. 2-nationally ranked West Chester University marches into town Tuesday afternoon for a 4 p.m. contest at David See Field.
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